Multi-antenna control in wireless user devices

ABSTRACT

Wireless communication devices have antennas, and the antennas have earth-orientations. The wireless devices exchange network signaling with a wireless access node over the antennas. Some of network signaling indicates Device-to-Device (D2D) communication times and frequencies. The wireless communication devices exchange device signaling with each other over the antennas using the D2D communication times and frequencies. Some of the device signaling indicates the earth orientations for the antennas. The wireless communication devices select a subset of the antennas based on the earth orientations. The wireless communication devices exchange user data with each other over the selected subset of antennas using the D2D communication times and frequencies.

RELATED CASES

This United States Patent Application is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/852,294 that was filed on Dec. 22, 2017 and isentitled, “MULTI-ANTENNA CONTROL IN WIRELESS USER DEVICES.” U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/852,294 is hereby incorporated by reference intothis United States Patent Application.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Wireless communication networks exchange wireless signals with usercommunication devices to support user services like virtual reality,augmented reality, media conferencing, and interactive gaming. The usercommunication devices may be phones, computers, headsets, machines, andthe like. The wireless communication network has wireless access pointsthat exchanges wireless signals with the user communication devices.

The wireless access points and the user communication devices each haveantennas to facilitate the wireless communications. In typicalscenarios, the wireless access points may have several antennas, and theuser communication devices have only a few antennas. Thus, the antennaconfiguration of a wireless access point is relatively complex, and theantenna configuration of a user communication device is relativelysimple. Wireless communication technologies like massive Multiple InputMultiple Output (MIMO) and beamforming often use several antennas at thewireless access point and a few antennas at the user communicationdevice.

Wireless Device-to-Device (D2D) communications entail the transmissionand reception of wireless signals directly between user communicationdevices without using the wireless access point, although the wirelessaccess point may provide D2D scheduling instructions to the usercommunication devices. The wireless D2D communications use the antennasin the user communication devices and not the antennas in the wirelessaccess points.

Newer user communication devices use higher radio frequencies in the6-60 Gigahertz range. This reduces the size of the antennas to a fewmillimeters in length. Numerous antennas of this size may bemetallically printed on a transceiver microprocessor, and sometransceiver chips may have as many as 32 or 64 antennas. Thus, neweruser communication devices may have 64 or more antennas. Unfortunately,the newer user communication devices are often still battery powered,and the large number of antennas causes a larger battery drain.

When a battery-powered user communication device has substantiallydrained its battery, the device often enters a low-power mode toconserve remaining battery power. The low-power mode may entail areduction in the number of antennas being used. For example, a usercommunication device using all 64 of its antennas may reduce that numberto eight in a low-power mode. The large number of antennas in some usercommunication devices adds complexity to low-power mode given the highernumber of antenna configuration options. The antenna complexity inlow-power mode is even more challenging when the user communicationdevices are engaging in wireless D2D communications.

TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

Wireless communication devices have antennas, and the antennas haveearth-orientations. The wireless devices exchange network signaling witha wireless access node over the antennas. Some of network signalingindicates Device-to-Device (D2D) communication times and frequencies.The wireless communication devices exchange device signaling with eachother over the antennas using the D2D communication times andfrequencies. Some of the device signaling indicates the earthorientations for the antennas. The wireless communication devices selecta subset of the antennas based on the earth orientations. The wirelesscommunication devices exchange user data with each other over theselected subset of antennas using the D2D communication times andfrequencies.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication device to control amultitude of antennas and exchange antenna data.

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of the wireless communication device tocontrol a multitude of antennas and exchange antenna data.

FIG. 3 illustrates the operation of wireless communication devices tocontrol antennas and exchange antenna data.

FIG. 4 illustrates a wireless communication device to control amultitude of antennas and exchange antenna data with wireless userdevices or wireless access points.

FIG. 5 illustrates a wireless communication device to control amultitude of antennas and exchange antenna data with both wireless userdevices and wireless access points.

FIG. 6 illustrates transceiver circuitry with multiple center-tappeddipole antennas at different antenna orientations.

FIG. 7 illustrates a center-tapped dipole antenna and antennaorientation graphs.

FIG. 8 illustrates a patch antenna and its antenna orientation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates wireless communication device 110 to control antennasand exchange user data. Wireless communication device 110 could be acomputer, phone, headset, graphic display, intelligent machine, or someother user apparatus. Wireless communication device 110 comprisestransceiver circuitry 111, baseband circuitry 112, and battery 113. Inthis example, transceiver circuitry 111 includes 64 antennas that arenumbered 1-64, although transceiver circuitry 111 may have a differentnumber of antennas in other examples. Baseband circuitry 112 executesmultiple user applications that are referred to as user applicationsA-N. Exemplary user applications include audio/video conferencing,social networking, virtual/augmented reality, interactive gaming, andinternet/enterprise access. Battery 113 supplies power to transceivercircuitry 111 and baseband circuitry 112 and indicates its reservebattery power.

Wireless communication device 110 comprises computer hardware andsoftware that are configured and integrated together to form aspecial-purpose machine. The computer hardware comprises processingcircuitry like Central Processing Units (CPUs), Digital SignalProcessors (DSPs), Graphical Processing Units (GPUs), transceivers, buscircuitry, and memory. To form these computer hardware structures,semiconductors like silicon or germanium are positively and negativelydoped to form transistors. The doping comprises ions like boron orphosphorus that are embedded within the semiconductor material. Thetransistors and other electronic structures like capacitors andresistors are arranged and metallically connected within thesemiconductor to form devices like logic circuitry and storageregisters. The logic circuitry and storage registers are arranged toform larger structures like Control Units (CUs), Logic Units (LUs), andRandom Access Memory (RAM). In turn, the CUs, LUs, and RAM aremetallically connected to form CPUs, DSPs, GPUs, transceivers, buscircuitry, and memory.

In the computer hardware, the CUs drive data between the RAM and theLUs, and the LUs operate on the data. The CUs also drive interactionswith external memory like flash drives, disk drives, and the like. Thecomputer hardware executes machine-level software to control and movedata by driving machine-level inputs like voltages and currents to theCUs, LUs, and RAM. The machine-level software is typically compiled fromhigher-level software programs. The higher-level software programscomprise operating systems, utilities, user applications, and the like.Both the higher-level software programs and their compiled machine-levelsoftware are stored in memory and retrieved for compilation andexecution. On power-up, the computer hardware automatically executesphysically-embedded machine-level software that drives the compilationand execution of the other computer software components which thenassert control. Due to this automated execution, the presence of thehigher-level software in memory physically changes the structure of thecomputer hardware into the special purpose machine described herein.

Transceiver circuitry 111 includes antennas 1-64, although other numbersof antennas could be used. Antennas 1-64 may each comprise metallicdiploe, metallic patch, or some other type of antenna. Transceivercircuitry 111 also has circuitry like modulators, amplifiers, filters,DSPs, and the like. Transceiver circuitry 111 uses wireless networkprotocols like Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) wireless.

Baseband circuitry 112 comprises computer hardware like CPUs, RAM,persistent data storage, bus interfaces, user interfaces, and datatransceivers. Baseband circuitry 112 also has computer software likeoperating systems, user applications A-N, user interfaces, and networkinterfaces.

Wireless user device 120 could be like wireless user device 110.Wireless user device 120 also comprises transceiver circuitry 121,baseband circuitry 122, and battery 123. Transceiver circuitry 121includes 64 antennas, although another number of antennas could be used.Baseband circuitry 122 executes user applications A-N. Battery 123powers circuitry 121-122.

Wireless communication network 130 comprises network elements likewireless access points, network gateways, network controllers, contentservers, and user databases. Wireless communication network 130 uses awireless networking protocol like 5G NR.

As battery 113 supplies power, battery 113 drains until it is dead.During the battery drain, battery 113 indicates its shrinking amount ofreserve battery power to baseband circuitry 112. Baseband circuitry 112also executes user applications which generate and consume user data.Baseband circuitry 112 identifies internal antenna data that indicateson/off status, reserve battery power, geometric earth-orientation, andthe user applications for the individual internal antennas 1-64. Thegeometric earth-orientation may be specified by azimuth (geographicdirection) and angle (with the ground) or by some other coordinatesystem. The geometric earth-orientation can be further qualified overtime as static or random based on the frequency of geometricearth-orientation changes.

Baseband circuitry 113 selects a set of internal antennas 1-64 based onthe internal antenna data. For example, baseband circuitry 113 mayinitialize with a default configuration that uses all 64 antennas andthen reduce the active antennas in response to low reserve power. Insome examples, baseband circuitry 113 reduces the number activetransmitting antennas to conserve power and/or serve a download-centricapplication. Due to the large number of antennas, orientations, andapplications, baseband circuitry 113 matches communication demands fromthe user applications with optimal but smaller sets of the antennas.Thus, baseband circuitry 113 may selects a transmit set of internaltransmit antennas and separately selects a receive set of internalreceive antennas. An individual antenna may be selected to be on or off,and when the antenna is on, the antenna can be further selected to bereceive only, transmit only, or both receive and transmit.

Baseband circuitry 113 transfers communication instructions totransceiver circuitry 111. Transceiver circuitry 111 wirelesslyexchanges the user data over the selected set of internal antennas 1-64responsive to the communication instructions. For example, basebandcircuitry 113 may select a set of 8 antennas to save power given thecurrent user applications—emailing and audio streaming. The antennasmight be selected to support a MIMO configuration where four antennashaving the same orientation are used to simultaneously transmit andreceive a first wireless signal to support the emailing application, andfour other antennas at a different orientation simultaneously transmitand receive another wireless signal to support the audio streamingapplication.

In some examples, transceiver circuitry 111 exchanges the user data withwireless communication network 130 over wireless link 131. Transceivercircuitry 111 may also wirelessly transmits its internal antenna data towireless communication network 130 over wireless link 131. In otherexamples, transceiver circuitry 111 exchanges the user data withtransceiver 121 in wireless communication device 120 over wireless link133. Transceiver circuitry 111 may also wirelessly transmit its internalantenna data to transceiver 121 over wireless link 133.

In some examples, transceiver circuitry 111 wirelessly receives externalantenna data from wireless communication device 120 over wireless link133 or through wireless network 130 and links 131-132. The externalantenna data indicates the on/off status, reserve battery power,geometric earth-orientation, and user applications for the individualantennas in wireless communication device 120. Baseband circuitry 112selects its set of internal antennas 1-64 in transceiver circuitry 111based on both the internal antenna data and the external antenna data.For example, baseband circuitry 122 may select a set of four antennashaving the same orientation and notify baseband circuitry 112 overtransceivers 111 and 121. Baseband circuitry 112 then selects a largerset of its antennas that also share the same antenna orientation as thefour selected antennas in wireless communication device 120.

In some examples, the wireless exchange of user data comprises directDevice-to-Device (D2D) communications over wireless link 133 betweentransceiver circuitry 111 in wireless communication device 110 andtransceiver circuitry 121 in wireless communication device 120. The D2Dcommunications may use beamforming, Multiple Input Multiple Output(MIMO), and/or Carrier Aggregation (CA) over wireless link 133.

In some examples, baseband circuitry 112 separately selects transmittingantennas and receiving antennas—which can be the same antenna. Basebandcircuitry 112 determines transmitting on/off and receiving on/off statusfor the individual internal antennas. Transceiver circuitry 111wirelessly transmits and receives user data over the selectedtransmitting antennas and the selected receiving antennas responsive tothe communication instructions. For example, baseband circuitry 112 mayreduce the transmitting antennas responsive to low reserve power.Baseband circuitry 112 may reduce the transmitting antennas responsiveto a download-centric user application like media streaming or internetbrowsing. Baseband circuitry 112 may also increase the receivingantennas responsive to the download-centric user.

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of wireless communication device 110 tocontrol antennas and exchange user data. Battery 113 supplies power andindicates its shrinking amount of reserve battery power to basebandcircuitry 112 (201). Baseband circuitry 112 executes several userapplications which generate and consume user data (202). Basebandcircuitry 112 identifies internal antenna data that indicates the on/offstatus, reserve battery power, geometric earth-orientation, and userapplications for the individual internal antennas 1-64 (203).

Baseband circuitry 113 selects a set of internal antennas 1-64 based onthe internal antenna data—and perhaps based on external antenna data aswell (204). Baseband circuitry 112 responsively transfers communicationinstructions to transceiver circuitry 111 (205). Transceiver circuitry111 wirelessly exchanges the user data over the selected set of internalantennas 1-64 responsive to the communication instructions (206). Forexample, baseband circuitry 112 may select all 64 antennas given a largereserve power supply and many executing user applications. In anotherexample, baseband circuitry 112 may select only 4 antennas given a lowreserve power supply and a single executing user application. Basebandcircuitry 112 may also select various transmit/receive antennacombinations given the reserve power supply, the user applications, andthe specific configurations for MIMO, beamforming, and/or D2D.

Advantageously, baseband circuitry 112 shares antenna data with otheruser devices and network elements. The distribution of detailed antennadata provides key information when baseband circuitry 112 balanceslow-power conditions with user applications—especially when implementingwireless D2D links that use MIMO and/or beamforming.

FIG. 3 illustrates the operation of wireless communication devices 110and 120 to control antennas and exchange user data over a wirelessDevice-to-Device (D2D) link. Wireless communication devices 110 and 120wirelessly attach to wireless communication network 130. Wirelesscommunication network 130 and wireless communication devices 110 and 120then exchange signaling over wireless links 131-132 to schedule futureD2D communications directly between devices 110 and 120 over wirelesslink 133. Wireless communication devices 110 and 120 identify their ownantenna data and exchange their antenna data over wireless link 133.

For example, wireless communication device 110 may have low reservepower but a download-centric user application like audio streaming fromwireless communication device 120. As a result, wireless communicationdevice 110 may select four orthogonal transmit antennas and all 64receive antennas to optimize reliability but save transmit power for thedownload centric audio streaming application. Wireless communicationdevices 110 and 120 then drive their selected antennas to exchange userdata over wireless link 133 to serve the user applications. In anexemplary operation, wireless communication devices 110 and 120 mayexchange audio data where power-challenged device 110 uses only a fewtransmitting antennas, and power-strong device 120 uses all 64 antennasto transmit and receive.

FIG. 4 illustrates wireless communication device 400 to control antennasand exchange antenna data with wireless user devices or wireless accesspoints. Wireless communication device 411 is an example of wirelesscommunication devices 110 and 120, although devices 110 and 120 may haveother configurations and operations. Wireless communication device 411comprises baseband circuitry (CKTRY) 401, network radio transceiver 402,and battery 403.

Network radio transceiver 402 comprises antennas, duplexers (DUPLEX),modulators (MODS), filters, amplifiers (AMPS), Analog-to-Digitalconverters (A/Ds), Digital-to-Analog converters (D/As), radio DSPcircuitry, memory, and bus interfaces. The memory stores user data andcommunication instructions (COM INST). The DSP circuitry drives wirelesscommunications with wireless access points and/or wireless user devices.

Baseband circuitry 401 comprises CPU circuitry, memory, user interface,and bus interfaces. The memory stores software components like anoperating system (OS), network interface application (NET IF), and userapplications (APPs). The bus interfaces of network radio transceiver 402and baseband circuitry 401 are coupled together over data connections,and the bus interfaces and data connections appear as dotted lines onFIG. 4. The CPU circuitry executes the operating system to interfacebetween the CPU circuitry and the other software components. The networkinterface application drives signaling and user data exchanges overnetwork connections. The user applications provide user services likemedia conferencing, interactive gaming, internet access, and the like.The user interface drives components to interact with a user likedisplays, microphones, speakers, jacks, buttons, and the like.

In operation, network radio transceiver 402 wirelessly attaches towireless access points in a wireless communication network using adefault antenna configuration that has all antennas active for bothtransmit and receive. Network radio transceiver 402 identifies itsantenna data and exchanges antenna data with the serving wireless accesspoints in the wireless communication network. Thus, network radiotransceiver 402 receives external antenna data from the wireless accesspoints. The network interface in baseband circuitry 401 processes thisantenna data to select the transmitting antennas and the receivingantennas in network radio transceiver 402. Baseband circuitry 401 thendrives network radio transceiver 402 to exchange signaling and user dataover the selected transmit and receive antennas.

As power drains in battery 403, the network interface in basebandcircuitry 401 modifies its antenna configuration and reports thecorresponding antenna data over network radio transceiver 402 to thewireless access points or user devices. For example, if battery 403 haslow reserve power and only a download-centric user application is on,then baseband circuitry 401 reduces the receive antenna configuration toonly four orthogonal receive antennas. In another example where battery403 is strong and wireless communication device is stationary, basebandcircuitry 401 may select four orthogonal groups of 16 antennas each, andeach antenna group transfers a different signal to provide foursimultaneous data flows that support a single virtual reality userapplication.

FIG. 5 illustrates wireless communication device 511 to control antennasand exchange antenna data with both wireless user devices and wirelessaccess points. Wireless communication device 511 is an example ofwireless communication devices 110 and 120, although devices 110 and 120may have other configurations and operations. Wireless communicationdevice 511 comprises baseband circuitry 501, user radio transceiver 502,network radio transceiver 503, and battery 504.

User radio transceiver 502 comprises antennas, duplexers, modulators,filters, amplifiers, Analog-to-Digital converters, Digital-to-Analogconverters, radio DSP circuitry, memory, and bus interfaces. The memorystores user data and communication instructions. The DSP circuitrydrives wireless communications with wireless user devices—includingwireless D2D communications. Network radio transceiver 503 comprisesantennas, duplexers, modulators, filters, amplifiers, A/Ds, D/As, radioDSP circuitry, memory, and bus interfaces. The memory stores user dataand communication instructions. The DSP circuitry drives wirelesscommunications with wireless access points.

Baseband circuitry 501 comprises CPU circuitry, memory, and businterfaces. The memory stores software components like an operatingsystem, network interface application, user interface application (userIF), and user applications. The bus interfaces of radio transceivers502-503 and baseband circuitry 501 are coupled together over dataconnections—which all appear as dotted lines on FIG. 5. The CPUcircuitry executes the operating system to interface between the CPUcircuitry and the other software components. The network interfaceapplication drives signaling and user data exchanges over networkconnections. The user interface application drives signaling and userdata exchanges over user wireless connections—including wireless D2Dcommunications. The user applications provide user services like mediaconferencing, interactive gaming, internet access, and the like.

In operation, network radio transceiver 503 wirelessly attaches towireless access points using a default antenna configuration that hasall antennas active for both transmit and receive. Network radiotransceiver 503 identifies its antenna data and exchanges antenna datawith the serving wireless access points. Thus, network radio transceiver503 receives external antenna data from the wireless access points. Thenetwork interface components in baseband circuitry 501 process theantenna data to select transmit and receive antennas in network radiotransceiver 503. Baseband circuitry 501 then drives network radiotransceiver 503 to exchange signaling and user data over the selectedtransmit and receive antennas.

User radio transceiver 502 accepts the wireless attachments of wirelessuser devices using a default antenna configuration that has all antennasactive. User radio transceiver 502 identifies its antenna data andexchanges the antenna data with the attached wireless user devices.Thus, user radio transceiver 502 receives external antenna data from thewireless user devices. The user interface in baseband circuitry 501processes the antenna data to select transmit and receive antennas inuser radio transceiver 502. Baseband circuitry 501 then drives userradio transceiver 502 to exchange signaling and user data over theselected transmit and receive antennas.

As power drains in some of the wireless user devices, these devicesmodify their antenna configurations and report their antenna data overuser radio transceiver 502 to the user interface in baseband circuitry501. The user interface drives baseband circuitry 501 to select antennasbased on the external antenna data in addition to its own antenna data.For example, if another wireless user device with low reserve powerreduces to four orthogonal transmit antennas, then baseband circuitry501 then selects a large set (32-64) of receive antennas that have adifferent geometric earth-orientations to communicate with the wirelessuser device in the low-power state.

In another example, a wireless user device with low reserve powerreduces to two transmit antennas in the same geometricearth-orientation. Baseband circuitry 501 then selects all of itsantennas at the same geometric earth-orientation to receive from thewireless user device in the low-power state. In yet another example, astationary wireless user device with high reserve power uses eightorthogonal groups of eight antennas, and each antenna group transfers adifferent signal to provide eight simultaneous data flows for numeroususer applications. Baseband circuitry 501 then selects its antennas toform eight groups that have the corresponding geometricearth-orientations to the antenna groups in the wireless user device.

FIG. 6 illustrates transceiver circuitry 600 with multiple center-tappeddipole antennas 601-609 at various antenna orientations. Patch antennascan be used in other examples in a like manner. Dipole antennas 601-603(and other antennas in the chain represented by the dots) share the samegeometric earth-orientation. Dipole antennas 604-606 (and other antennasin that chain) share the same geometric earth-orientation, and thisorientation is orthogonal to the orientation of dipole antennas 601-603.Dipole antennas 607-609 (and other antennas in the chain) share the samegeometric earth-orientation, and this orientation is orthogonal to theorientation of dipole antennas 601-606. Orthogonality may be achievedthrough geometric earth-orientation, separation distance, radioshielding, operating frequency/time, and the like. Transceiver circuitry600 can be made from micro-processing circuitry that has several printedinternal antennas at various geometric earth-orientations and locationswithin the microprocessor chip. Each antenna is fixed within themicro-processing circuitry. Thus, the geometric earth-orientation ofeach antenna may be readily derived from the geometric earth-orientationof transceiver circuitry 600.

For example, an 5G NR wireless user device could be implemented in asingle System-On-Chip (SOC) that has antennas, radio circuitry, basebandcircuitry, and gyroscope circuitry. The baseband circuitry can read itscurrent earth-orientation from the gyroscope circuitry and thentranslate the gyroscope orientation into individual antenna orientationsbased on the fixed relationship of the antennas within the circuitry.The SOC typically has a separate geographic positioning system likeGlobal Positioning Satellite (GPS) circuitry that provides a geographiclocation for the SOC, and through a fixed translation, that indicatesthe geographic locations for the individual antennas.

FIG. 7 illustrates a center-tapped dipole antenna and its antennaorientation graphs. Patch antennas could be used in a like manner. Thedipole antenna comprises antenna elements 701-702 and feed lines703-704. Antenna elements 701-702 are each a rectangular bar-shapedmetallic structure that may be very thin, very narrow, and around amillimeter long. Each antenna element 701-702 is typically sized at ¼ ofthe operating wavelength, so both antenna elements are positionedin-line to form a ½ wave dipole. Antenna elements 701-702 arecenter-tapped by feed lines 703-704. Feed lines 703-704 are coupled topower amplifier 707 and low noise amplifier 708 through duplexer 705.Transmit circuitry 706 drives wireless transmission from antennaelements 701-702 over power amplifier 707 and duplexer 705. Receivecircuitry 709 drives wireless reception from antenna elements 701-702over duplexer 705 and low noise amplifier 708. Transmit circuitry 706and receive circuitry 709 may be separately controlled to configureantenna elements 701-702 as a transmit-only antenna, a receive-onlyantenna, or a transmit/receive antenna.

The dipole antenna made of antenna elements 701-702 has ageometric-earth orientation as indicated by the dotted line from theleft edge of antenna 701 to the right edge of antenna element 702. Thus,the antenna orientation is also the geometric earth-orientation of thestanding waves that form on antenna elements 701-702 and feed lines703-704. The orientation graphs depict how geometric earth-orientationmay be characterized. The graph on the left illustrates the azimuth ofantenna elements 701-702 when viewed from above the earth surface. Theazimuth is one aspect of the geographic direction that the antenna ispointing. The graph on the right illustrates the angle of antennaelements 701-702 when viewed from the earth surface lookingperpendicular to the azimuth. The angle is another aspect of thegeographic direction that the antenna is pointing.

On the azimuth graph, the azimuth of the geometric earth-orientation forantenna elements 701-702 is 225 degrees (pointing to the southwest). Onthe angle graph, the angle of the geometric earth-orientation forantenna elements 701-702 is 45 degrees (to the ground when lookingsoutheast or northwest). Also note the antenna geographic locationlatitude/longitude/altitude (X/Y/Z) that is noted at the center tap.Together, the dipole antenna azimuth, angle, and location form a richdataset to support wireless communications in user devices—especiallywireless D2D communications between user communication devices thatexperience a low-power situation.

FIG. 8 illustrates patch antenna 801 and its antenna orientation. Patchantenna 801 is a square-shaped metallic structure that may be very thinand around a millimeter across. Patch antenna 801 is typically sized at½ of the operating wavelength. Patch antenna 801 is tapped at oppositecorners (or sides) by feed lines 803-804. Feed lines 803-804 are coupledto power amplifier 807 and low noise amplifier 808 through duplexer 805.Transmit circuitry 806 drives wireless transmission from antenna 801over power amplifier 807 and duplexer 805. Receive circuitry 809 driveswireless reception from antenna 801 over duplexer 805 and low noiseamplifier 808. Transmit circuitry 806 and receive circuitry 809 may beseparately controlled to configure patch antenna 801 as a transmit-onlyantenna, a receive-only antenna, or a transmit/receive antenna.

Patch antenna 801 has a geometric-earth orientation as indicated by thedotted line from the lower left edge to the upper right edge of patchantenna element 801. Note that patch antenna 801 could be circular, andpatch antenna 801 could be driven from different edge points that thatshown. The antenna orientation is the geometric earth-orientation of thestanding waves that form on patch antenna 801. This orientation may becharacterized by azimuth, angle or some other coordinate system asdescribed above.

The above description and associated figures teach the best mode of theinvention. The following claims specify the scope of the invention. Notethat some aspects of the best mode may not fall within the scope of theinvention as specified by the claims. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the features described above can be combined in variousways to form multiple variations of the invention. Thus, the inventionis not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but only bythe following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a wireless communicationsystem comprising wireless communication devices that have antennas thathave earth-orientations, the method comprising: the wirelesscommunication devices wirelessly exchanging network signaling with awireless access node over at least some of the antennas wherein some ofthe network signaling indicates Device-to-Device (D2D) communicationtimes and frequencies; the wireless communication devices wirelesslyexchanging device signaling with each other over at least some of theantennas using the D2D communication times and frequencies wherein someof the device signaling indicates the earth orientations for at leastsome of the antennas; the wireless communication devices selecting asubset of the antennas based on the earth orientations; and the wirelesscommunication devices wirelessly exchanging user data with each otherover the selected subset of the antennas using the D2D communicationtimes and frequencies.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein: the wirelesscommunication devices have batteries that have reserve powers; some ofthe device signaling indicates the reserve powers for the batteries; thewireless communication devices selecting the subset of the antennasbased on the earth orientations comprises selecting the subset of theantennas based on the earth orientations and the reserve powers.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 wherein: the wireless communication devices have theantennas that have on/off status; some of the device signaling indicatesthe on/off status for the antennas; the wireless communication devicesselecting the subset of the antennas based on the earth orientationscomprises selecting the subset of the antennas based on the earthorientations and the on/off status for the antennas.
 4. The method ofclaim 1 wherein: the wireless communication devices have circuitry thatexecutes a user application; some of the device signaling indicates theuser application; the wireless communication devices selecting thesubset of the antennas based on earth orientations comprises selectingthe subset of the antennas based on the earth orientations and the userapplication.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the earth-orientations forthe antennas comprise antenna azimuth.
 6. The method of claim 1 whereinthe earth-orientations for the antennas comprises antenna angle.
 7. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the earth-orientations for the antennascomprises geographic location.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein thewireless communication devices wirelessly exchanging the user data witheach other comprises using Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR).
 9. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the wireless communication devices wirelesslyexchanging the user data with each other comprises using Multiple InputMultiple Output (MIMO).
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the wirelesscommunication devices wirelessly exchanging the user data with eachother comprises using Carrier Aggregation (CA).
 11. A wirelesscommunication system comprising a first wireless communication devicethat has first antennas that have first earth-orientations and a secondwireless communication device that has second antennas that have secondearth-orientations, the wireless communication system comprising: thefirst wireless communication device configured to wirelessly exchangefirst network signaling with a wireless access node over at least someof the first antennas wherein some of the first network signalingindicates Device-to-Device (D2D) communication times and frequencies;the second wireless communication device configured to wirelesslyexchange second network signaling with the wireless access node over atleast some of the second antennas wherein some of the second networksignaling indicates the D2D communication times and frequencies; thefirst wireless communication device and the second wirelesscommunication device configured to wirelessly exchange device signalingwith each other over at least some of the first antennas and the secondantennas using the D2D communication times and frequencies wherein someof the device signaling indicates the first earth orientations for atleast some of the first antennas and the second earth orientations forat least some of the second antennas; the first wireless communicationdevice configured to select a first subset of the first antennas basedon the first earth orientations and the second earth orientations; thesecond wireless communication device configured to select a secondsubset of the second antennas based on the first earth orientations andthe second earth orientations; and the first wireless communicationdevice and the second wireless communication device configured towirelessly exchange user data with each other over the first subset ofthe first antennas and the second subset of the second antennas usingthe D2D communication times and frequencies.
 12. The wirelesscommunication system of claim 11 wherein: the first wirelesscommunication device has a first battery that has a first reserve power;the second wireless communication device has a second battery that has asecond reserve power; some of the device signaling indicates the firstreserve power and the second reserve power; the first wirelesscommunication device is configured to select the first subset of thefirst antennas based on the earth orientations, the first reserve power,and the second reserve power; and the second wireless communicationdevice is configured to select the second subset of the second antennasbased on the first earth orientations, the second earth orientations,the first reserve power, and the second reserve power.
 13. The wirelesscommunication system of claim 11 wherein: the first wirelesscommunication device has the first antennas that have first on/offstatus; the second wireless communication device has the second antennasthat have second on/off status; some of the device signaling indicatesthe first on/off status and the second on/off status; the first wirelesscommunication device is configured to select the first subset of thefirst antennas based on the first earth orientations, the second earthorientations, the first on/off status, and the second on/off status. 14.The wireless communication system of claim 11 wherein: the firstwireless communication device has the first circuitry that executes auser application; the second wireless communication device has thesecond circuitry that executes the user application; some of the devicesignaling indicates the user application; the first wirelesscommunication device is configured to select the first subset of thefirst antennas based on the first earth orientations, the second earthorientations, and the user application; and the second wirelesscommunication device is configured to select the second subset of thesecond antennas based on the first earth orientations, the second earthorientations, and the user application.
 15. The wireless communicationsystem of claim 11 wherein the first earth-orientations and the secondearth-orientations comprise antenna azimuth.
 16. The wirelesscommunication system of claim 11 wherein the first earth-orientationsand the second earth-orientations comprise antenna angle.
 17. Thewireless communication system of claim 11 wherein the firstearth-orientations and the second earth-orientations comprise geographiclocation.
 18. The wireless communication system of claim 11 wherein thefirst wireless communication device and the second wirelesscommunication device are configured to wirelessly exchange the user datawith each using Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR).
 19. The wirelesscommunication system of claim 11 wherein the first wirelesscommunication device and the second wireless communication device areconfigured to wirelessly exchange the user data with each using MultipleInput Multiple Output (MIMO).
 20. The wireless communication system ofclaim 11 wherein the first wireless communication device and the secondwireless communication device are configured to wirelessly exchange theuser data with each using Carrier Aggregation (CA).